QB questions surround Kelly after win

For The Trentonian/ JOHN BLAINE
Nick Foles guided the Eagles past the Giants in relief of Michael Vick on Sunday. Coach Chip Kelly says there is no quarterback controversy, but the Philadelphia fans disagree as the debate rages on.

“We’ll see where he is coming back from that,” Kelly said. “The Mike I know, he’ll work extremely hard at the rehab part of it and we’ll see how he goes as the week goes on.”

Vick suffered the injury on a 13-yard scramble with 4:31 left in the first half of what became a 36-21 victory over the New York Giants at the Meadowlands. Vick stayed in the game for four plays netting seven yards before Kelly replaced him with Nick Foles.

If Vick is unable to go, Foles would start when the Eagles hit the road to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next Sunday. Foles led the Eagles to 20 points, throwing two touchdown passes. Foles’ only NFL win as the starter was a 23-21 buzzer-beating job over the Bucs last year. Foles fired a one-yard scoring pass to Jeremy Maclin as time expired to snap an eight-game losing streak.

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Kelly refuted reports a decision had been on his starter, confirming they were inaccurate.

“We have not made any decision on who our starting quarterback will be,” Kelly said. “I’m not going to predict the future,” Kelly said. “I don’t know where we are with that.”

Rookie quarterback Matt Barkley will get snaps with the first team in practice this week although not nearly as many as Foles, who in his role backing up Vick got 15-to-20 percent of the reps with the starters according to Kelly.

“We’ve worked Matt out every day before every Sunday before games,” Kelly said. “I’ve seen Matt improve and I think the one thing about Matt is he loves football. So he’s around here all the time. He studies all the time. Obviously he’s not going to have as many reps as you would feel really comfortable in with a guy getting thrown into that situation. He’s not going to have the reps that Nick had but I feel comfortable in what Matt can do as a quarterback.”

Kelly indicated the decision on the starting quarterback could be delayed until Sunday and would be based on health. Both Vick and Kelly said the veteran could have gone back in the game against the Giants. Obviously Kelly was encouraged enough by the play of Foles that he didn’t have to make a choice.

“I’m not going to put him out there if it’s going to hurt him,” Kelly said of Vick. “That’s the biggest thing. When he was in the game and we went back in, (the medical staff) thought he was good to go back in and I watched him try to get away from the rush and that wasn’t fair to Mike. I’m not going to put him in that situation. We’ll see how that is.”

The play Kelly referenced was when Vick was buried trying to get away from Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul late in the first half. That was the last play of the contest for Vick.

While Kelly said the offense didn’t change with Foles on the field as opposed to Vick, it certainly did. The Giants defended the quarterbacks differently. Kelly called the plays differently. Kelly called more passes with Foles in the game and more runs when the healthier Vick was in the contest.

Kelly also reiterated that while Vick, if healthy, would be the starter the job is open to competition. But it will take a pretty good effort or series of efforts for Kelly to change his mind.

“I mean if somebody comes in and puts on an unbelievable performance you have to take it all into account,” Kelly said. “That’s my point.”

Asked what such a performance would be, Kelly hedged.

“I don’t know and I don’t have those answers,” he said. “We can go through this a million times. If Nick plays this week and does an outstanding job than that would be great for everyone involved.”